PRACTICE FOR PUTTING

Taranaki Daily News, 1 November 1930, Page 7

PRACTICE FOR PUTTING

MIDGET GOLF IN NEW PLYMOUTH.

Large crowds assembled at the opening of the “Green Mill” midget golf course last night. The course, which lias been described as the most intricate and complete iu New Zealand, is a marvel of ingenuity. At 6 o’clock Messrs. G..H. Saunders and C. Blake teed up and directed the ball through the red house to the first green. Throughout the evening it was difficult even to gain admission to the door of the course as large crowds keenly interested in the game congregated around the entranee. Inside the course was crowded with interested players and the liveliest competition was evident. At the first hole the ball is played into the front door of a tiny house to emerge at the back to the green. Force is needed at the second to negotiate a drain at the top of a slope. An uneven concrete channel requires judgment to pass at the next and then the fifth hole would break a golfer’s heart with a tiny hole set on a steep slope —the management allows only five strokes. A water hazard represented by a mirror lies in -wait at the following hole and a slice or a pull is also fatal at the seventh with neat little traps. The eighth provides in the end of a log a passage that seems much smaller than it really is, and at the ninth undulating country leads to a green in the hollow. Turning for home, billiards technique is required to pass the bridge on No. 10. Precision is necessary at the sloping eleventh, otherwise double- figures are unavoidable. Further “gate'’ traps wait at the 12th while in the Castle at the fatal 13th hole three doors invite the unwary ball. Needless to say the middle is the best. Holes 14 and 15 feature inclines and well-placed bunkers. When match play becomes exciting at the 16th the “loop-the-loop” makes a spectacular change, but at the penultimate green a “safety first” route can be used by those deterred by the intricacies of a bridge. The 18th hole at the top of the slope is alluringly easy, but once holed out the ball disappears from sight, rolling back to the “club house.”